Netanyahu Will Annex The West Bank (No 2-State Solution)

The map above shows the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Palestinian land), and more are being built all the time.

The myth here in the United States is that it is the Palestinians that have been the obstacle to peace in the Mid-East, by refusing to negotiate with Israel -- and that Israel is willing to negotiate a two-state solution that would create a Palestinian nation. That is simply not true.

It is Israel that has been blocking the negotiations by continuing to build settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank. They obviously have no intention of ever giving up these settlements and allowing the Palestinians to control their own land. Now, finally, an Israeli politician has been honest about Israel's intentions.

Prime Minister Netanyahu (who is running for re-election) has openly stated that when he is re-elected he will annex the West Bank -- making it an official part of the nation of Israel. This comes as no surprise to honest viewers of the situation in the Mid-East. This has long been the unspoken desire of the Israeli government. Why would they continue to build these settlements if they had any intention to one day give them up?

They wouldn't. They have never intended to allow the Palestinians to create a nation of their own (composed of the West Bank and Gaza). Netanyahu's desire to annex the West Bank is not different from the desires of other Israeli politicians -- he's just a bit more honest about Israeli intentions.

Here's what he said:

"A Palestinian state will endanger our existence and I withstood huge pressure over the past eight years, no prime minister has withstood such pressure. We must control our destiny."

"Will we move ahead to the next stage? Yes. I will extend sovereignty but I don't distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty." 

"I will not divide Jerusalem, I will not evacuate any community and I will make sure we control the territory west of Jordan." 

U.S. Abstains From Security Council Vote On Israel

The map above (from antiwar.com) is of the West Bank -- land that belongs to the Palestinian people. But, through the continued building of illegal settlements and building of a wall, Israel now controls most of the land (brown areas on the map). It is obvious that Israel has no intention of allowing a "two-state solution" which would require them to give this land back to the Palestinians. Instead, they are boldly and illegally attempting to steal this land and increase the size of their country.

The world knows this (with the exception of right-wing Israeli apologists in the United States) and has attempted many times to condemn this in the United Nations. The United States has always vetoed those resolutions (thereby becoming an accessory in Israel's land theft).

That changed a few days ago. A Security Council resolution condemning the illegal building of settlements passed on a 14 to 0 vote. It passed because the United States, for the first time, did not veto it. Instead, they simply abstained. Finally, the United States felt a moral obligation to stop defending the building of the illegal settlements.

After the U.N. vote, Secretary of State John Kerry gave an important speech that laid out U.S. policy. You can read a full transcript of that speech in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, but I have posted some interesting excerpts from it below:

Throughout his administration, President Obama has been deeply committed to Israel and its security, and that commitment has guided his pursuit of peace in the Middle East. This is an issue which I’ve worked on intensely during my time as Secretary of State for one simple reason: because the two state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace and security with its neighbors. It is the only way to ensure a future of freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people. . . .

Regrettably, some seem to believe that the US friendship means the US must accept any policy, regardless of our own interests, our own positions, our own words, our own principles -- even after urging again and again that the policy must change. Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect. Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, who does not support a two-state solution, said after the vote last week: “It was to be expected that Israel’s greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share” and veto this resolution. I am compelled to respond that the United States, did in fact vote "in accordance with our values," just as previous U.S. administrations have done at the Security Council. They fail to recognize that this friend, the United States, that has done more to support Israel than any other country, this friend that has blocked countless efforts to delegitimize Israel, cannot be true to our own values -- or even the stated democratic values of Israel -- and we cannot properly defend and protect Israel -- if we allow a viable two state solution to be destroyed before our eyes. And that’s the bottom line: the vote in the UN was about preserving the two state solution. . . .

On this point, I want to be very clear. No American Administration has done more for Israel’s security than Barack Obama’s. The Israeli Prime Minister himself has noted our unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation. Our military exercises are more advanced than ever. Our assistance for Iron Dome has saved countless Israeli lives. We have consistently supported Israel’s right to defend itself, by itself, including during actions in Gaza that sparked great controversy. Time and again we have demonstrated that we have Israel’s back. We have strongly opposed boycotts, divestment campaigns and sanctions targeting Israel in international fora, whenever and wherever its legitimacy was attacked, and we have fought for its inclusion across the UN system. In the midst of our own financial crisis and budget deficits, we repeatedly increased funding to support Israel. In fact, more than half of our entire global Foreign Military Financing goes to Israel. And this fall, we concluded an historic 38 billion dollar Memorandum of Understanding that exceeds any military assistance package the U.S. has provided to any country, at any time, and that will invest in cutting edge missile defense, and sustain Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge for years to come. . . .

Despite our best efforts over the years, the two state solution is now in serious jeopardy. The truth is that trends on the ground –violence, terrorism, incitement, settlement expansion and the seemingly endless occupation – are destroying hopes for peace on both sides and increasingly cementing an irreversible one-state reality that most people do not actually want. Today, there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state, or they can separate into two states. But here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic – it cannot be both –and it won’t ever really be at peace. . . .

Allies of both sides are content to reinforce this “with us or against us mentality” where too often anyone who questions Palestinian actions is an apologist for the occupation and anyone who disagrees with Israeli policy is cast as anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic. That’s one of the most striking realties about the current situation: This critical decision about the future – one state or two states -- is effectively being made on the ground every day, despite the expressed opinion of the majority of the people. The status quo is leading towards one state and perpetual occupation, but most of the public either ignores it or has given up hope that anything can be done to change it. . . .

Let’s be clear: settlement expansion has nothing to do with Israel’s security; many settlements actually increase the security burden on the IDF. And leaders of the settler movement are motivated by ideological imperatives that entirely ignore legitimate Palestinian aspirations. Among the most troubling illustrations of this point has been the proliferation of settler outposts that are illegal under Israel’s own laws. They are often located on private Palestinian land and strategically placed to make two states impossible. There are over 100 of these outposts, and since 2011, nearly one third have been – or are being – legalized, despite pledges by past Israeli governments to dismantle many of them. Now, leaders of the settler movement have advanced unprecedented new legislation that would legalize most of the outposts. . . .

Now you may hear that the settlements are not an obstacle to peace because the settlers who don’t want to leave can just stay in Palestine, like the Arab Israelis who live in Israel. But that misses a critical point: the Arab Israelis are citizens of Israel, subject to Israel’s laws. Does anyone really believe the settlers will agree to submit to Palestinian law in Palestine? Likewise, some supporters of the settlements argue that the settlers could just stay in their settlements, and remain as Israeli citizens in their separate enclaves in the middle of Palestine, protected by the IDF. There are over 80 settlements east of the separation barrier, many located in places that would make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. Does anyone seriously think that if they just stay where they are you could still have a viable Palestinian state? . . .

How would Israel respond to a growing civil rights movement from Palestinians demanding a right to vote, or widespread protests and unrest across the West Bank? How does Israel reconcile a permanent occupation with its democratic ideals? How does the U.S. continue to defend that and still live up to our own democratic ideals? Nobody has ever provided good answers to those questions because there aren’t any. . . .

Common interests in countering Iran’s destabilizing activities and fighting extremists as well as diversifying their economies have created real possibilities. I have spent a great deal of time with key Arab leaders exploring this, and there is no doubt that they are prepared to have a fundamentally different relationship with Israel. That was stated n the Arab Peace Initiative, and all my recent conversations have confirmed their readiness, in the context of Israeli-Palestinian peace, not just to normalize relations -- but to work openly on securing that peace with significant regional security cooperation. Many have shown a willingness to support serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and to take steps on the path to normalization of relations – including public meetings -- providing there is meaningful progress towards a two state solution. That is a real opportunity that should not be missed. . . .

In the end, we could not in good conscience protect the most extreme elements of the settler movement as it tries to destroy the two state solution. We could not in good conscience turn a blind eye to Palestinian actions that fan hatred and violence. It is not in U.S. interests to help anyone on either side create a unitary state. We may not be able to stop them, but we cannot be expected to defend them. And it is certainly not the role of any country to vote against its own policies. . . .

We must not lose hope in the possibility of peace. We must not give in to those who say what is now must always be, that there is no chance for a better future. Ultimately, it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to make the difficult choices for peace – and if they are, we can all help. And for the sake of future generations of Israelis and Palestinians, for all the people of the region, and for the United States, let’s hope they are prepared to make those choices now.

It's Time For The U.S. To Show Israel Some "Tough Love"

(The image above was found at Eine Kleine Nichtmusik.)

The nation of Israel is very popular with citizens in this country, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has used that to his advantage for years now. Under his leadership, Israel has basically operated two giant concentration camps in Gaza and the West Bank, engaged in the theft of Palestinian land by continuing to build Israeli settlements on that land (settlements they have no intention of giving up), and refused to negotiate a two-state solution to end the crisis in the Middle East.

Netanyahu claims all of this is necessary to protect Israel, and sadly, Americans have bought that lie for far too long now. The truth is that the Netanyahu government doesn't want to negotiate a settlement, because that would stop their theft of Palestinian land. And he made that clear to Israeli voters in the recent election -- assuring them that there would be no two-state solution as long as he was in power.

Now that he has been re-elected, he is trying to walk back that statement -- saying he actually does support a two-state solution. That is a lie. His assurances during the election, and his past actions, both show he is opposed to negotiating a two-state solution (or ceasing to steal Palestinian land). His recent statements are just to try and placate the United States government -- who have been protecting Israel in the United Nations, and continue to give them billions of dollars of foreign aid.

Israel has gone far beyond just defending itself. Under Netanyahu, it has become an international criminal state -- and it is time for the United States to show them some "tough love". The United States should stop vetoing United Nations resolutions condemning Israel's criminal behavior, and it needs to severely cut (or eliminate) the foreign aid it sends. It needs to do both until Israel ceases it criminal theft of Palestinian land and its obstruction of peace talks leading to a two-state solution.

Israel has a right to exist, but it does not have the right to be an international pariah under the guise of self-defense. With the re-election of Netanyahu, Israel has clearly shown it has no intention of curbing their criminal behavior. It is time for the United States to act.

Green Party Blasts Israeli Land Theft And Terrorist Violence

Israel is once again sending troops into the Palestinian Territory of Gaza. They say it is in retaliation for Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlements and to find the tunnels that Palestinians are using to make those attacks. What they won't tell you is that the settlements they are defending are illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land -- settlements that have been condemned by most nations as theft.

They also won't tell you that those tunnels can just as easily be found and destroyed from the Israeli side of the border as from the Gaza side. Or that the shelling from ships off-shore just kills indiscriminately and has nothing to do with the tunnels. There is no real justification for this latest Israeli aggression against Gaza (or for that matter, the continued occupation of, and theft of Palestinian land). While I support Israel's right to exist, I cannot condone their land theft, or their continued violence against civilians to try and justify that theft.

On this matter, I find I'm in general agreement with the Green Party. Here is what Green Party Shadow Cabinet member Ajamu Baraka wrote on July 16th:

“Protective Edge,” the cartoonish name given to the latest Israeli military offensive against the occupied people of Palestine, is representative of the inverted reality whereby the 1.7 million captive and largely defenseless Palestinians in Gaza are the vicious aggressors against the peace-loving settlers of Israel. Similar to the inverted reality in the U.S., where the myth of the innocent settler was created to justify the systematic slaughter of Indigenous peoples, the genocidal policies of Israel are camouflaged by the transformation of its position from an armed colonial invader to one of victim.

This repositioning is aided and abetted in the U.S. by a corporate media whose worldview and angle of reporting is framed by the innocent settler narrative. This narrative simultaneously liquidates and normalizes the colonial relationship between the colonizer and the colonized so that the occupied territories are not occupied but transformed into “disputed” territories and all forms of resistance on the part of Palestinians becomes terroristic.

Informed by this imperial vision, the corporate media not only parrot Israel’s victim narrative but go even further with the creation of the two-equal-sides fiction. Mainstream coverage laments how both sides are locked in battle or a spiral of violence, giving the absurd impression that the violence in the occupied territories is a conflict between two forces with similar power and equal moral standing.

“The corporate media parrot Israel’s victim narrative.”

It should be clear that attempting to conceptually equate the force of the state of Israel, one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with a resistance movement of a captive people trapped by land and sea in an open-air concentration camp on one of the most densely populated strips of land on the planet is a position that is fundamentally immoral. Yet for most editors and reporters in the U.S., pro-Zionist liberals and their counterparts in the Christian Zionist movement as well as some elements of the European press and public, the conceptual blinders of white supremacist colonial consciousness makes it impossible to see the immorality inherent in this construction of the so-called conflict.

The position for most of the world is that the latest assault on the Palestinian people is a war crime and an ongoing crime against humanity. That position was affirmed by the international Court of Justice, which ruled that as an occupying military power Israel has an obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to protect the rights of civilians under military occupation. i

Within this legal framework, the killing of civilians under occupation, indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian communities, collective punishments, house demolitions, arbitrary imprisonment, the theft of water and other natural resources and the building of settlements in occupied territories are all considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.ii

That is the real story that should be communicated to the general public in the U.S. But instead, the public is being led to believe that the Israeli military assault is a legally and morally justified response to aggression from Hamas. From this perspective there is no special responsibility on the part of the Israeli authorities to protect the rights of Palestinians under military occupation, and the actions of the Israeli government in response to the killings of the three Israeli teenagers is seen as a measured and rational response.

Colonialism and the humanitarian fraud

Only the most naive believe the current military assault has anything to do with “defense” issues related to the symbolic resistance offered from Hamas via the firing of rockets into Israel. Honest commentators on this issue know that Israel provoked the response from the Palestinian resistance with the mass repression it launched in Gaza after the killings of the three Israeli teenagers in order to use the response to justify its attack on Hamas. An attack meant to destroy the newly established unity government of the Palestinians.

The colonialist mentality sees any resistance, no matter the form, as illegitimate, punishable by death and unrelenting terror. That message is clear for Palestinians as their homes are reduced to dust and the people dig out the bodies of their children, spouses, fathers and grandmothers. The other message communicated to Palestinians, once again, and which they understand all too well, is that compared to the lives of the settlers their lives are worthless and there is no “responsibility to protect” for them.

“Israel provoked the response from the Palestinian resistance with the mass repression it launched in Gaza after the killings of the three Israeli teenagers in order to use the response to justify its attack on Hamas.”

The assault on the people and the institutions of Gaza has as its objective the eradication of the people of Gaza – not necessarily in the physical sense, only because at this stage in global consciousness any such attempt would galvanize universal opposition, but to erase Gaza as a functioning society, to destroy it politically, culturally, spiritually and psychologically. A process that IIan Pappe refers to as “incremental genocide,iii that whatever the label is terroristic in its’ most naked, brutal and devastating effect.

When genocide or systematic ethnic cleansing is not a viable option, reducing the indigenous population to a weak, terrorized and dependent condition is the next best thing for settler policy. The targeting of the civilian infrastructure and governing institutions by the Israeli military makes it clear that this is the objective of the current attack on Gaza.

The international community has failed to hold the Israeli state accountable for war crimes and other serious violations of international law over the last four decades. Human rights organizations and United Nations special procedures have produced detailed reports on the crimes committed by Israel over the last four decades without the perpetrators being brought to justice.iv And when it comes to Israel, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect is exposed as the imperialist ideological construct that it is.

Images of Palestinian children being dug out of bombed-out residential buildings have not resulted in calls for humanitarian intervention to save a population that may be the most brutalized on the planet today. Instead, weak and pathetic calls are made for “both sides” to show restraint and protect “civilians” as though a distinction can be made or is ever made between combatants and non-combatants when it is the whole people who are seen as the enemy by Israeli authorities.

“The only solution to the original sin of the Zionist project is authentic decolonization.”

Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights points out the hypocrisy of the West when it comes to Israel.

“…instead of condemning such recourse to massive violence as ‘aggression’ that violates the UN Charter and fundamental international law principles, the reaction of Western diplomats and mainstream media has perversely sided with Israel. From the UN Secretary-General to the president of the United States, the main insistence has been that Hamas must stop all rocket attacks while Israel is requested ever so politely to show ‘maximum restraint’”.v

What is the future for Palestine? Is reconciliation possible within the context of an ongoing colonial relationship? Is a two-state solution still viable with more than 500,000 settlers occupying almost half of the land that was supposed to be the Palestinian state, a land base that is just 22 percent of original Palestine before the establishment of Israel?

Frantz Fanon argues that:

“One world, either that of the settler or that of the native, must be destroyed to bring the colonial system to an end. Not simply a military defeat or a political deal – the total destruction of the other mode of living.”

As the Israelis continue to steal Palestinian land, murder, degrade and humiliate Palestinian people, and create “facts on the ground” that make it impossible to establish a viable, independent Palestinian state, it is becoming clear that the only solution to the original sin of the Zionist project is authentic decolonization where the presence, humanity and sovereignty of the colonized is restored.

Authentic decolonization is the only solution because the inner logic of the colonial/capitalist process suggests that Fanon’s assertion is correct – that there can be no reconciliation of Palestinian self-determination and independent development with the continuation of the Israeli state as a settler state. Because even within the framework of the so-called two state solution, the material basis of the Israeli colonial project is dependent on the continued expansion and expropriation of Palestinian land and the subordination of Palestinian people.

So while some Palestinians and their supporters still hope for a two-state solution, Israeli rulers also understand Fanon’s position that “only one mode of living will survive” and are moving to destroy Palestinian resistance. This is the real story of Gaza and all of the occupied territories – an ongoing crime that degrades all of us who are forced to witness it.

Israel Shows It Is Not Interested In Peace

(Image is from a 5/25/2009 edition of The Telegraph.)

Once again, the Israeli government is showing it is not really interested in the success of peace talks with the Palestinians. They are just using the peace talks to keep Europe and America off their backs while they continue to expand their country by stealing Palestinian land.

The Israeli government has just published it latest list of more than 600 towns and areas that need (and will get more money from the government) -- and the list includes 91 illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian areas. That's six more settlements than were included in the last report, and shows the Israeli government is not really interested in peace (since the last peace talks were discontinued for this same kind of settlement expansion).

The settlements are illegal according to international law. And they expose the real policy of the Israeli government -- to expand their country by building settlements in captured and occupied areas. And they are not willing to even negotiate giving any of the land back (for a Palestinian state) that their settlements are on. Israel doesn't want any two-state solution (which might lead to peace). They just want to expand their country's size.

This is nothing but outright theft of lands that do not (and should not) belong to Israel. The western nations, including the United States, should stop all aid to Israel until it alters this policy of land theft. Is there really any difference between Israel's seizure and annexation of Palestinian lands and Saddam's seizure and attempt to annex Kuwait? How can the United States let the first happen, while it went to war to prevent the other? Isn't it more than a bit hypocritical to turn a blind eye when our friend's do what we would not let other nations do?

Israel Is The Obstruction To Peace

In the 1967 Arab/Israeli War the state of Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai was returned to Egypt as a result of the peace agreement brokered by President Carter. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 even though the move was condemned by the international community (and the land is still claimed by Syria).

But those are side issues. The real key to Mideast peace is what happens to the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the world, including the United States, thinks these two pieces of land (all of them) should form a Palestinian state. In fact, President Obama has just followed the lead of previous U.S. presidents and announced that this Palestinian state should be established using the borders in place before the 1967 war. This makes imminent sense and would be fair to both sides.

But the Israelis want no part of such an agreement. For many years now they have been establishing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and recently announced plans for more settlements to be built there. And even though these settlements have all been built in violation of international law, Israel has no intention of returning any of the land they have stolen to build the settlements. Netanyahu admitted this after his discussions with President Obama -- Israel will not go back to the 1967 borders and give up any of the illegal settlements.

This is the real obstruction to Mideast peace talks. Israel likes to claim that it is the Palestinians who are blocking negotiations by refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. But most Palestinians do recognize that right and the rest have said they are willing to negotiate it (in return for a Palestinian state). The only thing that is beyond negotiation is the Israelis keeping the land they have stolen, and it is Israel who refuses to negotiate that (because they have no intention of giving any of it back).

There will be no peace talks for a while because Israel doesn't want any talks. They will not agree to any talks until they have finished stealing all the Palestinian land they think they can get away with -- and even then they will only agree to negotiate if they are assured they can keep the stolen land.

America has always been a supporter of Israel (probably because of a lingering guilt over actions not taken in World War II). But America needs to re-examine that support in the light of today's reality. Israel is no longer the victim. They are aggressors now -- who not only continue to steal Palestinian land, but keep the Palestinian territories as virtual ghettos where poverty and want are rampant.

It is time for the United States to act. The U.S. needs to cut off all foreign aid to Israel until it agrees to return to the peace table and negotiate with whatever representatives the Palestinians choose to represent them -- and the illegal settlements should be part of the negotiated settlement. Until the U.S. acts the Israeli's will just continue to delay and to steal more land.

U.S. Vetoes Mideast Peace

Most people in the United States don't understand the real causes blocking peace in the Mideast. They have bought the old Israeli argument that the peace talks can't be held because the Palestinians won't agree that Israel has a right to exist. The problem is that's an outrageous lie. It's not the Palestinians that are blocking peace talks by their actions -- it's the Israelis.

All of the relevant Palestinian groups have either said they recognize Israel's right to exist, or that they are willing to negotiate that. That should have cleared the way for peace talks, but it didn't. It didn't because the Israelis are not ready for peace talks -- they haven't finished stealing Palestinian land. Ever since they took East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, the Israelis have been spreading out into that territory by building settlements -- in violation of international law.

Israel has no intention of holding peace talks -- talks that could result in a Palestinian nation and a true peace, because the day that happens they can no longer steal any more land. It is obvious that they have no intention of ever giving up any of the Palestinian land they have stolen, and the longer they can delay peace talks the more land they can steal.

George Bush encouraged this illegal action by the Israelis, which is why no progress was made toward peace during his eight-year term. It was hoped that President Obama would be more neutral with the opposing parties, and thus be able to mediate a road to peace. At first it looked like that may be true, since he joined other world leaders in asking Israel to stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Unfortunately, the Israelis didn't take Obama seriously and continued to build.

Now it looks like the Israelis had correctly assessed the situation (and President Obama). The Obama administration has made it clear they are backing the illegal Israeli actions. The president has had several opportunities to punish the Israelis for not stopping the building, but has done nothing. Aid money could have been cut (or at least threatened to be cut), but Obama has made no move to do that.

Now the Obama administration has gone even further in defending the illegal settlement building. For a while now, a resolution has been making its way through the United Nations that would condemn Israel for continuing to build the settlements even though it has been made clear to them that it is a violation of international law. Last month a "number of prominent scholars, activists, and former U.S. diplomats" sent the president a letter asking him to support the U.N. resolution. They warned that a U.S. veto would "severely undermine US credibility and interests, placing us firmly outside of the international consensus, and further diminishing our ability to mediate this conflict."

But the president didn't listen. He destroyed what little credibility this country had as a neutral mediator and seriously damaged any hope of Mideast peace any time soon. He instructed the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. to veto the resolution when it became apparent it would be easily passed. Any hope of peace talks have been set back indefinitely.

Now neither side wants to come to the peace table. The Israelis aren't through stealing land, and the Palestinians can't trust us to be a fair mediator.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the veto didn't mean the U.S. was in favor of the Israeli settlement building, and that they were afraid the resolution would have resulted in increased building. That is not just ridiculous -- it may be the most outrageous lie told by the Obama administration to date. If the Obama administration really opposed the continuing building of the settlements, they would have joined the rest of the world in condemning the Israeli actions.

Once again the United States has taken a stand in defense of illegal activity, to the consternation of the rest of the civilized world. This is incredible -- and very wrong.

Does Israel Want Peace ?

The United States got Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas together this last week in an effort to get Mideast peace talks going again. Newspaper and TV reports hailed it as some kind of breakthrough, but was it? Has any kind of progress been made to establishing a real peace? In a word, no.

The only road to peace in the Mideast would be the establishment of a Palestinian state -- a separate state that would be ruled by Palestinians and not the Israeli government. As of yet, the Israeli government has not shown it is willing to accept such an arrangement. In fact, that would require Israel to give up possession of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The problem with that is that Israel is continuing to build new settlements in the West Bank -- settlements they will not be willing to give up to achieve a lasting peace. While the building goes on a temporary moratorium was placed on approving new projects, but at the end of this month that moratorium expires and Netanyahu has said he will not renew it. That means new settlements will again be approved for the West Bank in less than a month.

This one issue makes it clear that Israel does not want peace. It is in the process of stealing Palestinian land (with every new settlement built) and it has no plans to ever return that land to the Palestinians. The longer it can delay real peace talks, the more land it can steal. They are gambling that the United States will not cut monetary and military aid, even though the U.S. government opposes the new settlements.

Israel is happy to meet with Abbas and make a show of having talks, but they have no intention of participating in any real talks -- talks that could result in giving up land in the West Bank or control over Gaza and the West Bank. They want the world to believe that they must maintain the status quo to ensure their own existence, but that is not true.

The only real enemy Israel has in the Middle East is Iran -- an outlaw nation that not even the other muslim nations in the area support. The truth is that the existence of Israel is a false issue these days. Once the Palestinians have been taken care of with a state of their own (Gaza and the West Bank), the Arab nations in the area would have no trouble making peace with Israel. Even Hamas has said it is willing to negotiate a two-state solution (but they are unwilling to back down as long as the Israelis continue to steal Palestinian land).

Does Israel want peace? No. They have things just like they want them right now. It is time for the United States to get serious about putting pressure on Israel to get them to change their mind. That pressure should include the cutting off of all monetary and military aid. Not doing so would be tantamount to approving the Israeli mistreatment and enslavement of the Palestinian people and stealing of their land.

Israel Continues Violating International Law

There was a time when Isral was in the right. They had a new country and the right to exist and prosper, but there were other countries trying to deny them that right. But times change, and now it is Israel that is violating international law, while its neighbors want to see a peaceful two-state solution.

Most of the world, including the United States and the European Union, believe the solution to peace in the Mid-East is a negotiated settlement resulting in Gaza and the West Bank becoming an independent Palestinian state. The main opponent to this plan is Israel. That's because they steal more land in the West Bank every day by building permanent settlements there.

They don't seem to care that their actions are in violation of international law. They believe they'll be able to claim the settlements as Israeli land in future negotiations, and the longer they delay those negotiations, the more Palestinian land they'll be able to steal.

President Obama has asked Israel to completely freeze all building in the West Bank, as have most of the countries of the European Union. But Prime Minister Netanyahu has snubbed his best allies. He said on Monday that they will not only continue construction on the 2500 units already started, but they have approved construction of another 450 units.

Netanyahu said they will not stop constructing settlements in the West Bank, but they might consider "scaling down construction". No one is sure exactly what that means. Probably, it just means they will approve the new construction in smaller lots, but still continue the building (regardless of the size of new approvals).

This is unacceptable. This is not Israeli land they are building on. It is nothing more than an attempt to steal Palestinian land. It is also their way to delay negotiations while they continue to steal land. They know no negotiations will happen as long as they continue construction.

It is also obvious that the Israelis think they can ignore the United States and the European Union, and the U.S. and E.U. will do nothing about it. It is time to back up our requests with action. The U.S. should immeediately suspend all foreign aid to Israel until the building of settlements has completely stopped and they have returned to the negotiating table. If they want to violate international law, steal land and ignore our requests, they should have to do it without any of our money.

They have a right to exist, but they don't have a right to steal.

Does Israel Want To Negotiate ?

It has become obvious to everyone in the civilized world that there will never be peace in the Middle East until there is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is mutually acceptable to all sides.   Everyone, except Israel, that is.   It's starting to look like Israel is happy with the status quo.

President Obama has made it clear the Israel must stop building new settlements on the West Bank, because these settlements are an impediment to the peace process.   The European Union agrees, and they've been putting pressure on Israel this week during Netanyahu's European visit.

Netanyahu has refused to just stop the building of new settlements.   Instead he has said he is working toward a compromise.   The compromise would let Israel continue to build settlements already approved, while not approving any new settlements.

That's not really a compromise, but instead is an Israeli victory -- for a couple of reasons.   The watchdog group Peace Now says Israel could go on building indefinitely just using plans that have already been approved.   There are already 300,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and more are moving there every day.   

It's obvious what Israel is trying to do.   The longer they delay and the more settlements they build, the easier it will be for them to argue that at least part of the West Bank should remain a part of Israel -- even if a two-state solution is finally reached.   In a word, they're trying to steal Palestinian land by delaying and building.

Israel could negotiate a real peace if they wanted to right now.   If they pulled all Israelis out of the West Bank, and let a Palestinian state be set up in the West Bank and Gaza (a real Palestinian state not under Israel's control), I think peace could finally come to that part of the world.   It is achievable and the Palestinians are ready to negotiate.

The real impediment to the peace process is Israel itself.   They have America's guarantee to defend their existence, and also the opportunity to expand their territory by building on Palestinian land.   There is no real reason for them to negotiate right now.

Maybe it's time for the United States to give them a reason to negotiate.   The United States should suspend all foreign aid directed to Israel until they stop building settlements and start negotiating.   Otherwise, we'll just see more delay and land theft by Israel.

Does Israel Really Want Peace With Palestinians ?

I have to wonder if Israel really wants peace with the Palestinian people. Israel tries to present itself as the innocent party in the Mideast conflict, even as it is making plans to violate international law.

Israel announced recently that it will be building a new settlement on the West Bank. The approximately 30 houses to be built in the Jordan Valley will be resided in by former Gaza Strip settlers.

This is not only a violation of international law -- it is also a violation of the 2003 Roadmap for Peace. In fact, this violation is so egregious that even the Bush administration sees it as wrong and destined to provoke the Palestinians.

United States State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos said, "The establishment of a new settlement or the expansion of an existing settlement would violate Israel's obligations under the roadmap. The U.S. calls on Israel to meet it's roadmap obligations and avoid taking steps that could be viewed as predetermining the outcome of final-status negotiations [with the Palestinians]."

The European Union has also expressed it's "deep concerns" with the Israeli announcement.

Israel has also said it might release millions of dollars collected in taxes for the Palestinians. Why have they been keeping this money in the first place? This is not their money -- it belongs to the Palestinians, and the Israelis had no right to withhold it.

If Israel wants the world to view them as the innocent party in the Mideast conflict, then they must stop breaking the rules themselves. They cannot accuse the Palestinians of failing to live up to their obligations, if they are unwilling to live up to their own obligations.